Tag Archives: misconduct

SANTA ANA, Calif. ― Scott Dekraai, the shooter in the worst mass killing in Orange County, California, history, was sentenced on Friday to eight consecutive life terms in prison without the possibility of parole, rather than receiving the death penalty, because of government misconduct linked to a jail informant program.

The worst mass murderer in Orange County, Ca., history will not face execution, the Orange County Register reports. Judge Thomas Goethals took the death penalty off the table for confessed killer Scott Evans Dekraai, 47, citing misconduct by prosecutors and sheriff’s officials. Dekraai pleaded guilty to killing eight people and wounding another in a 2011 . . .

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A California man convicted of the worst mass killing in Orange County history was spared the death penalty on Friday after a judge found that serious misconduct by prosecutors had violated his rights to a fair trial.

The ruling means that, barring a successful appeal, former tugboat worker Scott Dekraai, 47, will be sentenced to life in prison for killing eight people in a 2011 shooting rampage at a Seal Beach hair salon.

“If this case had been prosecuted from the outset by the Orange County District Attorney within the most fundamental parameters of prosecutorial propriety, this defendant would likely be living alongside other convicted killers on California’s Death Row,” Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals wrote in a 19-page ruling.

Dekraai pleaded guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder in May 2014, making him eligible for the death penalty, but the judge took the case away

SANTA ANA, Calif. (CN) — A state judge will decide next week whether the worst mass murderer in the history of Orange County, California, must face the death penalty or can avoid it because of misconduct by the sheriff.

Scott DeKraai murdered his ex-wife and seven others at a Seal Beach hair salon in October 2011. He confessed almost immediately and pleaded guilty to murder in May 2014.

For the past three months, Orange County Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals has been considering whether he should bar the death penalty in the case because the sheriff’s department violated DeKraai’s rights by intentionally and repeatedly hiding information about a secret program to use jailhouse informants against criminal defendants — including DeKraai.

The lead defense attorney, Assistant Public Defender Scott Sanders, argued Thursday that the sheriff’s department

SANTA ANA, Calif. (CN) — A state judge will decide next week whether the worst mass murderer in the history of Orange County, California must face the death penalty or can avoid it because of misconduct by the sheriff.

Scott DeKraai murdered his ex-wife and seven others at a Seal Beach hair salon in October 2011. He confessed almost immediately and pleaded guilty to murder in May 2014.

For the past three months, Orange County Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals has been considering whether he should bar the death penalty in the case because the sheriff’s department violated DeKraai’s rights by intentionally and repeatedly hiding information about a secret program to use jailhouse informants against criminal defendants — including DeKraai.

The lead defense attorney, Assistant Public Defender Scott Sanders, argued Thursday that the sheriff’s department violated his client’s rights. “Removal of the death penalty is a

Sheriff’s Deputies Ben Garcia and William Grover, who have been on paid administrative leave for the past several months, took the stand and invoked their Fifth Amendment rights in refusing to testify.

Deputy Seth Tunstall is expected to do the same thing when he is called to testify next week.

Garcia’s attorney, Bob Gazley, told City News Service his client has not been told why he was put on leave.

Tunstall and Garcia have previously asserted their Fifth Amendment rights in another murder case involving a jailhouse informant last year. That prompted

Sheriff’s Deputies Ben Garcia and William Grover, who have been on paid administrative leave for the past several months, took the stand and invoked their Fifth Amendment rights in refusing to testify.

Deputy Seth Tunstall is expected to do the same thing when he is called to testify next week.

Garcia’s attorney, Bob Gazley, told City News Service his client has not been told why he was put on leave.

Tunstall and Garcia have previously asserted their Fifth Amendment rights in another murder case involving a jailhouse informant last year. That prompted

SANTA ANA, CA — Two Orange County sheriff’s deputies asserted their constitutional right against self-incrimination Thursday when called to testify in an evidentiary hearing alleging outrageous governmental misconduct in the case of Scott Evans Dekraai, the worst mass killer in the county’s history.

Sheriff’s Deputies Ben Garcia and William Grover, who have been on paid administrative leave for the past several months, took the stand and invoked their Fifth Amendment rights in refusing to testify.

Deputy Seth Tunstall is expected to do the same thing when he is called to testify next week.

Garcia’s attorney, Bob Gazley, told City News Service his client has not been told why he was put on leave.

Tunstall and Garcia have previously asserted their Fifth Amendment rights in another murder case involving a jailhouse informant last year. That prompted an Orange County Superior Court judge to order a new trial for Eric Ortiz, who was again convicted of

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